Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy can be defined as a means of treating psychological or emotional problems through verbal and non-verbal communication. It is the treatment of psychological distress through talking with a specially trained therapist and learning new ways to cope rather than using medication to alleviate distress. It is done with the immediate goal of helping the person in increasing self knowledge and awareness of relationships with others. Psychotherapy is carried out to assist people in becoming more conscious of their previously unconscious thoughts, feelings and motives.
Psychotherapy’s longer term goal is making it possible for people to exchange destructive patterns of behaviour for healthier more successful ones and helps to improve social functioning and personality growth.
In general the aims of psychotherapy are:
- Increased insight or improved understanding of one’s own mental state from knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses to a deep awareness and acceptance of inner feelings.
- The resolution of inner conflicts and working to create positive settlement of emotional struggles that prevent a person living a reasonably happy and productive life.
- Increasing acceptance of self by developing a more realistic and positive appraisal of a person’s own inner resources.
- Development of improved and more efficient and successful means of dealing with problems so a person can find ways of coping with them.
- An overall strengthening of a sense of self so that more healthy means of coping with life’s struggles can be called upon and used as needed.
Psychotherapy can be individual one-to-one sessions, or for couples, families or as part of a group dealing with specific problems or mental health difficulties.
Sessions usually last for 50 minutes or an hour depending on the practitioner and are held weekly, fortnightly or monthly depending on individual circumstances. Psychotherapy is not generally time limited and can take a few weeks, months or sometimes years to complete successfully depending on the nature and complexity of the issues that are being worked with.
